Diagnostic systems are used by technicians and professionals in virtually all industries to perform basic and advanced system testing functions. For example, in the automotive, trucking, heavy equipment and aircraft industries, diagnostic systems provide for vehicle onboard computer fault or trouble code display, interactive diagnostics, multiscope and multimeter functions, and electronic services manuals. In the medical industry, diagnostic systems provide for monitoring of body functions and diagnosis of medical conditions, as well as system diagnostics to detect anomalies in the medical equipment.
In many industries, diagnostic systems play an increasingly important role in manufacturing processes, as well as in maintenance and repair throughout the lifetime of the equipment or product. Some diagnostic systems are based on personal computer technology and feature user-friendly, menu-driven diagnostic applications. These systems assist technicians and professionals at all levels in performing system diagnostics on a real-time basis.
A typical diagnostic system includes a display on which instructions for diagnostic procedures are displayed. The system also includes a system interface that allows the operator to view real-time operational feedback and diagnostic information. Thus, the operator may view, for example, vehicle engine speed in revolutions per minute, or battery voltage during start cranking; or a patient's heartbeat rate or blood pressure. With such a system, a relatively inexperienced operator may perform advanced diagnostic procedures and diagnose complex operational or medical problems.
The diagnostic procedures for diagnostic systems of this sort are typically developed by experienced technical experts or professionals. The technical expert or professional provides the technical experience and knowledge required to develop complex diagnostic procedures. The procedures must then be programmed by computer programmers knowledgeable in a computer programming language. The diagnostic procedure computer program source code is compiled to create an object code diagnostic program, which can then be executed on a diagnostic system.
Thus, existing diagnostic systems have a disadvantage in that diagnostic procedures developed by technical experts and professionals must be programmed by computer programmers, who often are not experts in diagnostics. This process can result in unnecessary time and cost, as well as errors, which sometimes are introduced during the programming phase because of the difficulty of communicating complex diagnostics to the non-expert computer programmers. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus for developing and authoring diagnostic procedures in a format that can be executed on PC-based diagnostic systems without requiring knowledge of a computer programming language.